Dozens under arrest in China in connection with Bo Xilai scandal

Telegraph ^ | 04/18/12 | Malcolm Moore

[TigerLikesRooster]

Dozens under arrest in China in connection with Bo Xilai scandal

China has detained dozens people with connections to Bo Xilai, it was claimed as the Communist party pledged to "thoroughly investigate" the politician and his wife's alleged role in the death of British businessman Neil Heywood.

By Malcolm Moore, Chongqing

5:40PM BST 18 Apr 2012

At least 39 people are thought to be being held, alongside Mr Bo, in the seaside town of Beidaihe, a favourite retreat for Communist party leaders.

"The detainees include Xu Ming, who had a very special relationship with Mr Bo, and some of the people who worked with him," said Wang Kang, a well-connected independent scholar and public figure in Chongqing who is the only person with inside information on Mr Bo's removal from power to go on the record.

"The detainees are mainly people from Dalian and other places, not from Chongqing," he added. Mr Xu is one of China's richest men, a billionaire who heads the Dalian Shide industrial conglomerate. The 41-year-old has not been seen at the company since mid-March.

One of the people in custody is Xia Deling, the former party chief of Nan'an district in Chongqing, the area in which Mr Heywood's body was discovered, on November 15, in the Nanshan Lijing Holiday Hotel.

Mr Xia has been rumoured to have supplied the cyanide that killed Mr Heywood. However, Mr Wang suggested that this is unlikely. "Xia Deling was promoted from the countryside to his post in Nan'an, skipping up two ranks, so he was very loyal. But I do not think he would have personally obtained the poison," he said.

[St_Thomas_Aquinas]

-—I think it should be remembered, Bo Xilai was/is a very strict and devoted Maoist.——

How do they reconcile Maoist communism with their fascist state? Is State-capitalism a strategic retreat until the final revolution? Or is the leadership simply paying lip service to communism, for lack of a better idea?

[Tainan]

My take on it is this. Maoism is fundamentally a cult of personality. This changed after the death of Mao and the trials, and subsequent tribulations, of Madame Mao and the "Gang of Four." Deng Xiaoping emerged as the leader and then began the switch to party loyalty rather than loyalty to Chairman Mao.
This is a very abbreviated over view.

IMO, Bo was seen as a new 'personality' figure in his district and this was deemed to be a threat to the central PRC in Beijing.
Remember, his area was a long way from Beijing party central and his area is home to 30 million + people. A very sizable constituency.

Thats my quick take on why this happened.
Also, his wife was found out to be a large scale crook. That makes for 'bad face.'

[St_Thomas_Aquinas]

Thank you.

[Leep]

In current Chinese context, reform means “stick it to corrupt fat cats.” That is how little people think and the idea of “reform” will be accordingly shaped.

---

Wow, souunds kind of like BO’s platform. You know the one presently occupying our WH.

[piasa]

There are reports Heywood is associated with the same British firm -Hakluyt?- as Steven Halper and the folks who tried to set up Trump associates.